


The Sun Rises to a New Day (And It's Red With Love)

by TheSoggySchuyler4



Series: We Walk This Earth United [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Kid Jemma Simmons, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:48:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23233507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoggySchuyler4/pseuds/TheSoggySchuyler4
Summary: Skye Coulson makes for an adorable matchmaker. Once she decides that her parents should be married, nothing can get in her way.
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Series: We Walk This Earth United [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638472
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	The Sun Rises to a New Day (And It's Red With Love)

**Author's Note:**

> Set mainly between chapter one and two of Tokens of Love, but can probably be read without reading that first. Only really requires chapter one if you want the backstory to May and Phil adopting Skye.

Skye was six the first time someone mentioned weddings around her. She had been at her current foster home for almost three weeks, which was nearly a new record, and the young couple putting up with her had been invited to one. They’d been arguing about it. Should they bring Skye? Should they go at all? Skye never found out the answer. The couple sent her back two days later. She’d always been a curious child though, and the next time the sisters brought her to the public library she scavenged through the books until she found the information she wanted. What was a wedding? What did married mean? The books had one answer. Marriage meant love. That was that. Simple.

Skye had known Phil and Mel three days before she asked them if they were married. She asked Phil first, giggling at the look of confusion on his face.

“Why do you ask that, Skye?” He finally managed, putting down his newspaper and giving her his full attention. None of Skye’s previous foster dads had ever done that before. She liked it.

Skye considered her options. She knew Phil and Mel wanted to foster her. They’d been very open about it, asking her how she felt, what she wanted. Skye had felt very grown up. She also knew that she had never been with a foster family where the mom and dad weren’t married. Sister Anita had said that it was really hard to become a foster parent all on your own because every child should have a mom and a dad and nothing else. That had sounded all wrong to Skye, who couldn’t help thinking that two dads would mean twice as many dad jokes, and two moms would mean so many more cuddles and kisses. What was bad about that?

“’Cos mommies and daddies are married. That’s how it works.” She explained, giving him a look to tell him that the answer should have been obvious. Phil still looked concerned.

“Angel eyes, I promise you, we’ll still love you and each other just as much, even though we aren’t married. Our hearts are big enough for all of our people.”

Skye watched him suspiciously. She had always assumed that you could only have love when you were married. That was why only adults got married, because kids didn’t know how to love properly. She liked Phil’s version better though. It sounded nice, the idea that they could love her and each other without it mattering who was married and who wasn’t.

“Okay,” She decided, “We can try your version first.”

Phil seemed to have spoken to May first because when Skye asked her, as she was being tucked safely into bed, the woman’s hands stilled for a moment and then she put on a maybe-fake smile and pressed her lips to Skye’s forehead.

“We love you no matter what baby girl. We don’t need a certificate to tell us that. Sweet dreams.”

Skye smiled softly at May’s receding shadow. It really was a nice idea. She wasn’t sure what ‘sweet dreams’ meant though. Dreams were bad and scary, always. They were never ever sweet and sugary like Phil’s pancakes.

* * *

Skye forgot about marriage after a while. Her parents did everything within their power to show her that they loved her, and it soon became clear that they had been right. Skye didn’t need any physical proof that they loved her. She saw it in every action, every kiss, every word. She knew it deep down in her soul and felt it on an intimate level in her heart. It didn’t matter that mama and papa weren’t married. They loved her anyway.

It was years later that thoughts of marriage even crossed her mind. She spent much of her life travelling, so by the time she was ten and a half, Skye had been to so many schools she had lost count. This one, Ashburton Primary School, in Devon, was tiny and friendly and Skye just knew she could fit in here. Mama said they’d be in Devon for what would essentially be Skye’s summer term, all going well, and Skye would have to take the British SATs whilst here. That kind of sucked, but Skye got so much help with her schoolwork that she never felt behind.

She fiddled with her school uniform, unused to having to wear the same as everyone else. The grey pinafore, white blouse and red cardigan wasn’t the most horrible thing she’d had to deal with though, so it was fine. It kind of made her feel more like she belonged, somehow.

“Hi! I’m Jemma! I’m going to be your buddy whilst you get used to a new school! What’s your name?”

Skye stared. She had never met anyone so…perky. Jemma was worse than Papa, and that was saying a lot.

“Um, Skye?” She managed, wincing at the inflection at the end. It had sounded so uncertain. Jemma beamed at her.

“We’re learning about the Egyptians at the moment! Isn’t that fascinating? I mean, Mrs McCauley is a fantastic teacher. Oh, have you got your exercise books yet? I’m sure Miss can find you some so you can get caught up. We each take home a home reading book every week too. Well, I sometimes take home two or three, but that’s because I’m exceptionally high above my reading age. I need extensive stimulus to develop the plasticity of my brain, you see.”

Skye tried very hard not to cringe. Jemma seemed lovely, sure, but also… a lot. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to cope with a whole term of this.

“You’re American, aren’t you? Do you know, my parents said that if I was born in America, I’d probably have been moved into the year above. Oh, but in America you have _grades_ , don’t you? You must tell me how that works. I’m sure it’s absolutely riveting. I do love learning, don’t you? New things are just so exciting! Oh, I must tell you…”

* * *

“Don’t touch that, it might explode.”

Skye retracted her hand, staring suspiciously at the bubbling beaker on Jemma’s desk.

“Um, why do you have explosive stuff?”

Jemma looked up from scribbling in her notebook. It had constellations on the front, and Jemma had taken great pride in teaching them all to Skye.

“My dad got me a chemistry set for my birthday. I had to adapt the rather elementary experiments suggested in the manual, of course.”

“Oh,” Skye moved away from Jemma’s desk, peering curiously at the photo on her bedside table. It showed Jemma in a pretty dress, stood between her parents. “Um, what’s this?”

Her mum looked like she was wearing a wedding dress, but that didn’t make sense.

“Mum and dad’s wedding. I was the flower girl.” She put her notebook down and came over, picking up the photo, “I was about four or five here. Mum and dad had been engaged for years but they wanted to wait till I was old enough to understand.”

Skye frowned.

“No, Moms and dads have to be married to have kids.” She insisted, thinking of all her old foster families.

“The two events are not mutually inclusive. One _can_ occur without the other. _Your_ parents aren’t married.” Jemma pointed out, giving her a funny look.

“That’s different.” Skye argued. Mama and papa weren’t her biological parents. The same rules didn’t apply to them. They both looked up as Jemma’s mum came in, looking concerned.

“Everything alright in here girls?”

“Yes mum,” Jemma replied, “I was just explaining to Skye that people don’t need to get married to have kids. You can have kids out of wedlock. You become pregnant by- “

“Jemma! Enough!”

“Sorry mum” Jemma looked chastened and went a little red.

“Hmm,” Jemma’s mum seemed a little annoyed, “I’m not sure this is a very appropriate conversation to be having. Don’t you have some homework to be getting on with?”

“Oh yes! We have the most excellent assignment. Mrs McCauley wants us to write two sides of A4 about the Pyramids.” Jemma gasped. Skye groaned. Jemma had been gushing about the project all the way to her house, but Skye wasn’t looking forwards to it. There was so much writing. Jemma’s mum nodded and left them alone.

“So, moms and dads don’t have to be married?”

Jemma looked nervous.

“Mum said not to talk about it.” She muttered sullenly.

“Um, but um, my-my parents could get married, couldn’t they? Even though they’re already parents?” Skye picked at Jemma’s rug, not wanting to meet her eyes.

“Yeah? Why?” Skye thought about the question. Why did she care? She knew mama and papa didn’t have to be married, but it would be nice. Marriage had always seemed like such a beautiful thing to Skye.

“Hey, Jemma. How would you feel about setting my parents up?”

* * *

“This is a ridiculous plan. We don’t even have a plan B, never mind plans C and D.”

The girls sat in Skye’s living room, supposedly watching TV. Jemma had insisted on watching an English programme about space, and then had made them actually sit and watch two episodes before she would even consider discussing the plan. Skye thought that kind of defeated the purpose of pretending to be watching TV, but Jemma was far smarter than her so she wouldn’t question it.

“It’s going to work.” Skye promised. She’d thought really hard about the plan.

They’d get lots of marriage things like magazines and pictures of pretty weddings and scatter them around the house in really subtle places so her mama and papa would see them unconsciously or something. Jemma had tried to explain the science behind Skye’s plan, but she hadn’t really listened. Then, she and Jemma would subtly mention weddings and marriage around her parents or when they might be listening. When they thought her parents were properly thinking about weddings, Skye would persuade her papa to go shopping and they’d see a wedding ring shop and he’d want to buy one.

“There’s no such thing as a wedding ring shop,” Jemma informed her, “You just go into a regular jewellery shop.” Skye scowled.

“Okay, then I’ll do that instead.”

They’d borrowed a lot of the magazines from Jemma’s parents, who apparently still had a bunch from when they had gotten married. Skye had printed off some more pictures from online using her papa’s laptop. She wasn’t really supposed to go on it, but she was fairly sure they wouldn’t tell her off if they knew what it was for. Leaving the tv playing (Jemma seemed disappointed to be missing the episode) they snuck off around the house, using bluetac to stick the pictures in random places.

“Subconscious messaging” Jemma announced, sticking a picture of a dog in a veil onto the milk carton in the fridge.

“Yeah, okay” Skye groaned. She stuck her own image of two rings onto her mama’s favourite mug with the grumpy cat. This would work. It had to.

* * *

May slammed a wedding magazine down on the kitchen table causing Phil to jump.

“Our daughter is trying to set us up.”

She had found the magazine stuffed into the washing machine and would have missed it if she wasn’t trained to notice things out of the ordinary. Paired with the odd images that they had both noticed around the house and it was becoming increasingly obvious what Skye’s goal was.

“We’re already together.” Phil chuckled, looking torn between laughing and seeming concerned, “You think she doesn’t know that? Should we talk to her?”

May smiled.

“I think it’s more likely she just really wants to see us married. You remember how obsessed she was with whether we were married when she first came to us?”

Coulson nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I thought she was over that. What should we be doing? Have we failed her somehow?”

“Phil Coulson, you sweet oblivious man. Isn’t it obvious? Skye wants to see us married because she loves us and still considers marriage to be the ultimate demonstration of love. It’s absolutely adorable.” She paused, letting Phil take in that information, “I think- I think we should do what she wants, don’t you? It’s about time.”

Coulson put down his drink, staring at her with wide puppy eyes.

“You want to get married, Mel? For real? Was that you proposing?”

“You can do it properly later. For now, I’m sure Skye has a whole plan and I wouldn’t want to ruin it.”

“I love you so much Mel”

“Yes, I’m aware, Phil. That’s why I want to marry you.”

* * *

“Jemma’s parents are married, Mama.”

May continued tucking Skye into bed without missing a beat.

“That’s nice.”

“Uh-huh. And they got married _after_ Jemma was born, so she got to be there. Isn’t that cool?”

“Very cool. Sweet dreams baby girl”

Skye snuggled down in her covers, barely keeping her eyes open.

“Sweet dreams Mama.”

May got up, pressing one last kiss to Skye’s forehead. The little girl had fallen silent, so May assumed she was probably asleep.

“Mama, you’d make a beautiful bride.” Skye suddenly murmured. May glanced back, but Skye was obviously finished talking. She smiled, switching off the main light and heading downstairs.

“Apparently I would make a beautiful bride.” She commented to Phil. He shifted over to make room for her on the sofa and kissed her cheek.

“I can’t help but agree. I have seen you in wedding attire before, after all.”

May snorted, looking disgruntled.

“That was for a mission, and those assistants were useless. The dresses did nothing at all for my figure.”

“Beautiful,” Phil insisted, “Absolutely stunning. The most wonderful woman in the world.”

“You,” May decided, “Are either very drunk or half-asleep.”

“Drunk on love” Phil murmured, sleepily stroking her hair. May let him, refusing to admit how much she adored the sensation.

“Delirious with exhaustion,” She corrected, “But I love you anyway. I hope Skye moves onto the next part of her plan soon. All this talk about marriage is reminding how desperately I want to be married to you.”

Phil grunted, and May smiled, realising he had already fallen asleep. He was such a _dork._

* * *

“Papa, will you take me shopping today?”

Skye was fidgeting in her seat trying very hard not to look suspicious. She giggled when papa nearly dropped the plate of pancakes on the floor, looking shocked.

“Ah, don’t you want your mama, Angel eyes?”

Papa looked so comical, all big bulging eyes that darted around the room nervously and a splattering of syrup on his sleeve.

“No Papa. Not this time.” Skye blinked at her papa a couple of times, like she had seen the kids on tv do when they wanted something. Papa sighed, wiping his hands on his apron and glancing over at Mama, who seemed to be acting as if she couldn’t hear their conversation.

“I thought you didn’t like it when I took you? Are you going to be okay?” Papa checked.

Skye squirmed in her seat. Back in the beginning, and still somewhat now, Skye had struggled with the idea of a man being anywhere near her when she was in a state of undress. She’d had so many problems in previous homes because of it. Thankfully, mama and papa had realised the problem right away, and since then, only Mama took Skye to buy clothes. She hadn’t even considered that Papa’s genuine kindness and thoughtfulness would be the thing to let her down.

“Um,” Skye scrambled to find a plausible excuse, “I don’t want to… go shopping for clothes?” An idea hit her, and she quickly gained confidence, “I wanted to buy a new computer game with my pocket money and mama hates the game shop. It’s too noisy.”

Papa relaxed.

“In that case I’d love to take you.” He assured her, brushing her hair out of her face. Skye beamed. Her plan had worked, and nobody was suspicious at all.

* * *

“You’re sure you’ll be okay with this?” Mel fretted, glancing upstairs where Skye was _still_ deciding what to wear today. How long did it take to pick out a pair of jeans and a plain sleeveless top, just like she always wore? There was honestly no difference between her outfits. Phil smiled placatingly.

“She said it herself: no clothes shopping, just computer game. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Yes, but- “

“Melinda.”

Melinda paused, looking a little embarrassed. She always seemed to hate whenever Phil caught her worrying about Skye, as if she felt like she shouldn’t. She had every right to be worrying about this anyway. Skye was known for having serious panic attacks, and being near a man, however much she loved and trusted them, whilst she was getting changed or having a bath, was a major trigger. Phil kissed her quickly, smiling at how adorable she was right now.

“Skye and I will be perfectly fine, and I’ll call you the second anything happens, which it _won’t_.”

They both glanced up as Skye bounded down the stairs, clutching her new blue sparkly rucksack. She had, as Phil had suspected, chosen to wear a plain blue t-shirt, paired with denim jeans and a pale purple hoodie. Typical.

“Okay, we can go now.”

Phil laughed.

“Shoes.” He reminded her. Skye grinned sheepishly and pulled on her trainers, scrambling towards the door as she did so and falling on her stomach in a heap. Giggling, Skye pulled herself up and fastened the Velcro properly.

“Now we can go.” Skye insisted, moving confidently towards the door.

“Ah ah ah,” Melinda called, causing Skye to glance back at her, “Hugs and kisses please.”

Melinda pulled Skye into her arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Be good, baby girl. I love you, okay?”

“Love you too Mama. Can we go now?”

Sighing, Melinda released their daughter from her tight grip.

“Go on then, trouble.”

“Bye Mama!”

Skye practically ran out of the door, leaving Phil to hurry after her, barely having time to say goodbye to Mel himself. He frowned at Skye, who appeared to be trying to climb into the passenger seat.

“Booster seat, angel eyes. You know the rules.”

Skye pouted.

“I’m almost tall enough. None of the other kids in my class have one.”

“That’s not true,” Phil recalled, strapping Skye into her booster seat, “Zoe does, and she’s older than you.”

Skye merely scowled in response. She had been pleased at first to discover that Zoe was even smaller than she was, but less so when Phil and Melinda had started using her as an excuse to get Skye to do things.

* * *

The shopping centre was packed, and Skye grimaced. She hadn’t actually thought this far ahead, and she had no idea where the jewellery shop even was. Spotting a map of the centre, Skye lit up and rushed over. She’d be sure to find the information here. Papa laughed as he followed behind her.

“We know where the gaming shop is, sweetie. You don’t have to check every time we come.” He pointed out. Skye smiled and kept looking. Yes! There it was! Next to ‘The Engineer’ toy shop which was… absolutely the opposite end of the centre from the game shop. How was she supposed to get papa to go over there?

“Can we go to the toy shop first papa?” She asked hesitantly. Papa gave an odd look but shook his head.

“If we go there first you’ll just find lots of toys you like and spend all your pocket money there. You wanted the game, so let’s get the game. We can _browse_ the toy shop later, okay? Maybe another day.”

Skye frowned. Papa was right, obviously, but that wasn’t helpful. She had no idea how to get him to see the jewellery shop.

“Maybe we could just go and look at it from the outside? I just want to _see_ it whilst we’re here.”

“You want to… _see_ the toyshop? You’re a strange child, Skye” Papa laughed. He scrutinised the hoard as if he was looking for something, then suddenly relaxed.

“You know what, Skye? That sounds like a really great idea now that I think about it.” He told her, grabbing her hand and leading her in the right direction. Skye silently cheered, though she wasn’t sure what had caused his change of heart. Maybe he really did think it was a Good idea, although she wasn’t sure why anyone would. Who would go to a toy shop just to look at it from outside?

It didn’t take long to get there, and Skye immediately spotted what had to be the jewellery shop.

“Those look really pretty Papa.” Skye commented, pointing towards the shop’s display. She was positive that she sounded completely casual and not at all suspicious. Papa smiled.

“They do, don’t they? Shall we take a look?” He asked. Skye nodded eagerly. She couldn’t believe how well her plan was working! Papa didn’t suspect a thing, and he thought it was all his idea. And Jemma had thought they would figure it out! Ridiculous! Skye was way smarter than that.

“You sure? I wouldn’t want to stop you from seeing the toyshop?” Skye squinted. He almost sounded like when Papa was reading Mama. Slowly, she shook her head. Papa ruffled her hair.

“Alright then kiddo. Let’s go look at those rings.”

“Are they wedding rings papa?” Skye asked curiously. They really were lovely, and she wasn’t sure if there even were other kinds of rings.

“Yeah, sweetie. Shall we look for one for your mama?”

Skye gasped! Her plan had worked even better than she’d hoped.

“You and Mama are going to get married?”

“I have to ask her first,” papa chuckled, “But maybe you could help with that too, huh?”

“Papa,” Skye announced in the most grown up voice she could muster, “There is absolutely nothing in the world that I would love more.”

* * *

Phil proposed to Melinda three weeks later. He was, in all honesty, extremely proud of the proposal he and Skye had put together. They brought Mel to the park where they had gone with Skye to celebrate her official adoption. The three sat in the cool shade drinking iced tea and eating till they could hardly move.

Mel hadn’t commented on the location, or the picnic, though Phil was sure she must have suspected something. They weren’t spies for nothing, even if picnics in the park were fairly regular occurrences. The weather was supposed to be perfect and he and Skye had triple checked the forecast to make sure. Nothing could disrupt this special moment.

He knew the moment when it came. Mel was lying with her head on his shoulder, allowing herself a brief moment of open affection. Skye had shifted to curl up into his other side, the three of the watching the clouds above. The quiet, still air filled Phil with a peaceful confidence that he had never felt before. Skye peered up at him through her dark eyelashes and instantly knew that this was it.

“Mama,” The little girl spoke softly, “Papa has something for you.”

“Mel,” Phil began, taking a deep calming breath, “I love you more than all the stars in the universe, and probably all the other universes that may or may not exist- “

“Get on with it Phil.” Mel murmured teasingly

“I love you so much that every second without you by my side feels like agony. I can’t _breathe_ when you are gone. Mel, you complete me. You tell me when to stop, and you keep me going when I can hardly move. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again. Which is why,” Phil reached into his pocket and produced the ring he and Skye had meticulously chosen, “Melinda May, I am asking you from the bottom of my heart; Will you Marry me?”

Melinda sat up, studying the ring appraisingly.

“Good choice of ring.” She commented finally.

“Mama! You have to say yes now!” Skye cried out in frustration. Mel only chuckled.

“Phil Coulson. You are a huge dork and a bumbling idiot most of the time, and a lot of people would never imagine that we could work, but I love you anyway. I would be honoured to be your wife, and to spend eternity raising our incredible daughter together. For the record Skye, that’s a resounding yes.”

Phil let out a short laugh of delight and pulled Mel into a tight embrace, smiling like an idiot as Mel slid the ring onto her finger. After a moment, Skye wriggled in between them.

“I planned this right from the beginning, you know.” She announced smugly. Phil shared a look with Mel over their daughter’s head. Everything would be alright, Phil realised, because he had his family, and they had love. Nothing could beat that.


End file.
